Wolverine and Spider-Man RPG Isekai Chapter 11: Arrows and Astrals, a Marvel + Dungeons and Dragons Crossover fanfic

WOLVERINE AND SPIDER-MAN RPG ISEKAI EPSIODE 11 : ARROWS AND ASTRALS

The arrow plunged into Spider-man's back, under his shoulder blade and stabbed out his gut.

His eyes went wide. It didn't even hurt. Not at first. It was like he was existing separate from himself, feeling his head snap back and blood erupt from his mouth; feeling his body go limp and collapsing, but not really having a part in any of it.

The rest of the party gasped then fell silent as they watched their team member soundlessly collapse in a puddle of his freshly shed blood.

Wyn's face contorted into a hideous, blood red rage.

"KILL HIM!" she screamed.

Wolverine, Wyn and even Boksee descended on Summer. The war mage threw up his ethereal blades and moved to fend them off in a second wind.

"Nih! We'll cover you!" shouted Boksee.

The elf grabbed up Spider-man and ran him to the other side of the room. As quickly but carefully as he could, he lowered the injured man to the ground.

Spider-man who seemed to have some of his senses back writhed and gasped and gargled, clutching at the arrow protruding through his stomach.

"Gahh! AHHH! AHH!"

Nih ripped off his mask. Blood was smeared over his face. His eyes, huge and terrified.

The arrow, heavy and barbed, was clean through his upper abdomen, the head sticking several inches into the air. Blood pooled beneath him.

Summer was barely hanging on with Wolverine and Wyn raging at him from both sides. Claws, mace, blades, fists! Blood and spit! Blocking both adventurers with his halo of blades the war mage moved to plunge a dagger into Wyn's side. Boksee bolted low and rammed him in the knees throwing him onto his back with a shout.

Rummaging through his satchel, his fingers fumbling, Nih found his potion of mana. He snarled as he forced the fowl liquid down his throat and felt himself pulse with unnatural life force.

"I am so sorry Spider-man," he said quickly.

He grabbed the shaft of the arrow and wrenched it the rest of the way through Spider-man's gut.

He wailed, blood erupting out of him like a fountain. He flailed and shrieked in absolute madness.

Wyn brought her mace smashing toward Summer's face. He flailed on his back desperately weaving blades over his head blocking her attacks. One sword managed to catch Wolverine slicing a gouge clean up his face. The mutant saw red.

Nih forced his hands down on Spider-man trying to keep him still as he performed his last spell.

"By the soil that gave us form and the air that breathed us life," he hissed. "May this creature's wounds begin to mend."

His hands glowed a vivid red. Spider-man grunted and snarled as his body lit in the same color. Then he started to calm down, his eyes trying to flutter closed and his head falling limply to the side.

Wolverine's teeth were bared, his fangs dripping with his own blood, his eyes mad and feral. In blind rage he slashed madly at the downed Summer.

Spider-man, barely conscious, felt a shiver run through his ruined body. He was…so cold. He knew this feeling. It was massive blood loss. It wasn't in his head. The literal warmth of his body was spilled out all over the floor. His vision was going dark…

Logan could barely see. He couldn't see. His vision was so full of fury and blood that the world was nothing but a red blur. That said, it came as a surprise when his obscenely sharp claws, flailing and lashing blindly at the air felt the slightest resistance. It was a feeling only Logan knew. The sensation of adamantium claws gliding through soft flesh. There was a scream. Logan didn't stop. There were ungodly screams.

Closing his eyes, the last thing Spider-man saw was a flash of light.

Suddenly there were no more screams…No more pain…

He was in mist…

…no more than that. He was mist…

Then he wasn't.

Slowly Spider-man came into form.

He awoke…or did he? Well he felt awake…maybe.

Opening his eyes, he looked up but didn't quite understand what he was seeing. He was staring up into an infinite dusk sky of silky grey…something. It wasn't water, but it wasn't air…or clouds. It just was. Whatever it was, it swirled and billowed in flowing cascades as far as the eye could see.

"Oh crap," he said out loud.

He had died.

This was it. It had finally happened. He had been killed. What a way to go out. Stabbed in the back, literally.

"Actually, that's not surprising," he mumbled.

Spider-man felt something solid beneath him. Pushing himself up he saw he was spread out on a strange rocky surface, still in his suit but missing his mask. He flexed his feet watching them. Then he looked down at his hands.

"Well, I'm solid," he said in assessment.

He lifted up his shirt and felt around his stomach. He found an opening.

"Uh oh."

There was a quarter sized flesh hole right under his left pec. While he was probing, a far too curious finger managed to shove itself inside. Spider-man recoiled in disgust at the smooth slick texture of his own organs.

"OH! Nasty!" he cried yanking his finger back and wiping it on his tights. "Great," he lamented pulling down his shirt. "Now I'm going to have a boob butt hole for all of eternity, a boob hole. I see that Parker luck is still holding strong even in death."

"Wait," he thought his heart dropping into his stomach.

"If…if I'm dead…my, my family should be here!"

His face lit up and tears streaked down his cheeks.

In no real direction, he scrambled to his feet and took off across the rocky ground.

"Aunt May! Uncle Ben!" he shouted. "Mom, Dad, I'm here! Gwen?"

He ran and ran, his voice carrying in the empty void as he cried out like an excited child but there was nothing. Nothing and no one.

After several minutes, maybe, without a peep, he jogged to a stop, breathing heavily. He looked around.

"Aunt May? Uncle Ben?"

Someone had to be here right? Was he… lost? He did die in a world that wasn't his own. Maybe he wasn't where he was supposed to be.

"Helloooo‽" he called again.

Nothing. His voice didn't even echo.

He huffed. Taking a huge breath he prepared to shout as loud as he could.

"HEL-"

Suddenly the rocks started rumbling beneath his feet. He jumped back as a monstrous worm creature with massive hooks for hands erupted from the ground with an ear-splitting shriek.

"-Lo?"

"LOGAN!" wailed Boksee trying to grab him. "Logan STOP!"

Wolverine was slashing away at a pile of spurting entrails and shredded muscle that was once Summer.

Blood and spit and bodily fluids splattered into the air again and again coating Logan's deranged face as he relentlessly lacerated it.

Braving the adamantium blades, Wyn threw herself in front of him ramming him back with her shield.

"STOP!" she commanded.

Logan stumbled, the jarring movement knocking him out of his rage just enough for his feral fury to ease.

He gasped and panted as he regained himself then looked down to see the mess.

It was one of the goriest piles of lose flesh he had ever seen. With the exception of the bones sticking out of it, no one would have ever guessed what was left on the floor used to be a body, let alone a person.

"Fuck," he gasped wiping his blood-soaked eyes on his equally soaked forearm.

The forgery was so flooded with blood and fluids that their feet caused ripples in the standing crimson.

"Spider-man!" cried Boksee running toward him, her feet splashing.

Wyn and Wolverine both suddenly remembered what had happened and hurried over to join her.

Spider-man was laying sprawled on the ground, Nih sat beside him. There was no dividing line between Spider-man's and Summer's pooling blood. It was all just one massive puddle.

Boksee fell to her knees.

"Is he ok?" she asked carefully putting her trembling hands to Spider-man's face, smearing it with her fingerprints.

With a deep breath Nih looked to her.

"He's alive," he said.

Wolverine looked down. Spider-man was deathly pale, his eyes dark and sunken. His chest was quivering up and down in rasping, painful breaths.

"Fuck," said Logan again. "Just barely."

"A-aunt m… uncle…" he mumbled pitifully.

Boksee stroked his forehead.

"Oh Spidey," she said a few tears escaping down her filthy blistered cheeks. "We're here."

"Can't you heal him?" Wolverine demanded of Nih.

"Look at me! I barely have the mana to stand!" he shouted back. "I know a few spells but this is critical damage! He needs a real healer!"

"We've got to get him back to Little Monds," said Wyn calm and firm wiping the blood from her mace. "There are sisters there." She reached into her pack. Her health potion was smashed.

"Shit," she hissed tossing the broken bottle to the ground.

"That'll take days! Ain't there anywhere closer?" asked Logan.

"No, and you know that."

Logan huffed then looked down to the miserable form of Spider-man. He saw the offending arrow beside him.

"What in Strana was he thinking?" asked Nih.

"He was trying to get info," said Boksee tending over him.

"He was trying to spare that, that abomination!" spat Nih pointing at the flesh pile.

"Don't yell!" snapped Boksee. "He can still understand your energy."

"That's ridiculous," said Wyn as cold as ice.

"I…"

"Shut it," said Logan. There was no anger. Only a command.

The team looked at him surprised but complied. Calmly, Wolverine walked over and plucked the arrow from the bloody floor. He turned it over in his hand then snapped the head off and put it in his pocket. With a grunt he then loaded Spider-man onto his back.

"It don't matter," he said bluntly. "It don't matter how we got here. None of that matters. All that matters is that we got a man down. Now we get him home."

The team calmed and nodded.

As they got ready to leave Boksee came over to give Spider-man's unconscious face one more stroke.

"Don't worry Spidey," she said. "We're here. We're going to take good care of you."

Spider-man stared up into the toothy maw of the monstrous sharp toothed worm creature.

"Seriously?" he snapped. "I have to fight monsters even in the afterlife? Uh uh. No way. I know I did enough good to end up somewhere decent. What kind of deal is that‽"

Spider-man dropped into a fighting stance.

"Whatever," he said sourly. "I'm going to whoop you so hard you wish you were double dead worm boy."

Then he felt a fog roll over his mind.

Suddenly he didn't understand where he was…not that he really did in the first place. He couldn't think. He couldn't move. His eyes rolled back in his head in a daze as the worm moved to grab him.

"Be gone you wretched psurlon!" shouted a commanding and oddly familiar voice.

In a brilliant flash of bright blue, a psionic blast exploded against the worm.

It shrieked in pain and the hold it had managed to put on Spider-man's mind was lifted. Another blast, and it quickly retreated back underground.

Spider-man stood and shook his head.

"Mind fog. Really?" asked the voice coming up behind him. "You allow yourself to fall prey to such a basic spell but you allude my stupendous psionic abilities?"

Spider-man turned and was shocked to see a familiar blue octopus of a man in long violet cloaks strutting up behind him.

"Steve!" he exclaimed.

"What does that mean?" asked Steve.

"Oh uh," said Spider-man, his face turning a little red. "That's what I named you."

"Steve?" asked the mind flayer in disbelief grabbing his hips. "You gave me a name in your language? And it doesn't even sound impressive," he said throwing a hand. "By the elder brain."

"Oh Steve," said Spider-man somberly. "You died? Did we accidently kill you?"

"What are you prattling about? Now where is your precious body?" Steve demanded grabbing him. "I've been searching for your mind for weeks. You're arousing brain has caused my reproductive cycle to begin."

"Ew," said Spider-man squigging. "I got an octopus horny? That's um, an achievement."

"Where is your body?" snapped Steve shaking him.

"I don't know!" he cried. "Earth?"

"Where is that?"

"Oooh. Look," said Spider-man pulling away. "I was in a tower of an evil wizard or something somewhere around Ozero Lake, and he stabbed me in the back with an arrow. So, I don't know what use you're going to get out of my dead body but I guess you can…hey how are you supposed to make babies if you're dead?"

Steve just stared at him, his tentacled face utterly confused. His wet black eyes started glancing around like he was trying to puzzle out what Spider-man was talking about. After an uncomfortably long silence he finally slumped, exasperated.

Steve sighed putting a hand to his smooth brow.

"No, try as I might I have failed to understand what you are referring to. May I look into your mind for a moment?"

"Only if you ask nicely," replied Spider-man smugly.

"How much more nicely can I ask?" Steve asked annoyed.

"Say please."

"Please?" he repeated skeptically.

"Yes you may."

Before Steve was ready to give him a slap, Spider-man relaxed and let the mind flayer probe him.

After a quick moment of flipping through the pages of the human's mind, Steve understood.

"Ah! I see," he said relieved. "You have made the mistake in believing that this is an outer plane that you have entered via your own demise. As incorrect as you are I do see how you have made this mistake considering you have never been to the astral plane before and you seem to have projected yourself through an unconventional method."

"Soo…" said Spider-man trying to keep up. "What you're saying is…I'm not dead?"

"That is correct."

"Then where are we?"

"We are currently projections in the astral plane."

"The astral plane?"

"Yes."

"Ok, what is that?"

"Hm, I would expect one who has traveled to other realms of existence to know."

"Hey! I can't know everything. I've been all sorts of places. Here, there, home, the nightmare realm, space, time, uh…Asgard…"

"Hm," said Steve crossing his arms, a face tentacle curling. "The astral plane is a place of dreams and thought. A realm of the in-between," he explained. "A place that is no place. The space in between all spaces, where visitors may enter the void, ascend to the divine or fall to the demonic.

"Wow, better watch my step."

"My kind once commanded a grand empire on this plane, but now we are rare. Still I come here to travel great distances with my mind that my body cannot, and it is here, here is where I find you, on the cusp of death lost and departed from your material body, felled by your own hubris."

Steve sighed.

"What a waste."

"Hey I'm not dead yet. Right?"

"I've said correct already."

"Well then you can help me," said Spider-man perking up. "How do I get back to my body?"

"Well you follow your tether of course," he said flippantly.

"What's that?"

Steve pointed behind him.

Spider-man turned and had to do a few twists before he saw it.

A silver thread was sticking straight out of his back. It was held taught for a few feet behind him before disappearing into the ether.

"Oh. So if I follow this I'll return to my body?" he asked reaching up and grabbing it. With a little looking he noticed Steve had one as well.

"Yes, that is the point of a tether."

"Ok, that seems reasonable. Hope it doesn't snap."

"That is a nearly impossible occurrence."

"Oh, good. Well, uh, I guess I'll see you later. Thanks Steve."

With that Spider-man turned and started following the ethereal silver thread.

"And where do you think you're going?" asked Steve affronted.

"Um, to my body?"

"A blind worm like yourself will not survive alone in the astral plane. That is why I will escort you."

"You're going to help me get back?"

"Correct. You are my prized, treasured pet. It will not do to have your delectable mind destroyed."

"Huh."

Spider-man didn't like being called anyone's pet, let alone an octopus' but he wasn't about to turn down an ally.

"Alright then, let's boogey."

The astral was a sea of silky grey and milky white that seemed to swirl in an endless ethereal abyss. Lone rocky islands in the strangest shapes were the only land masses. They floated in the void like asteroids in space, as aimlessly as leaves in the sea. Across one of these rocky land masses, Spider-man and Steve were following Spider-man shining silver tether. Every so often they would pass by something that seemed like a crumb of another plane, a few walls of a building, a tree, a single star in the far far distance.

Another worm creature, a psurlon apparently, erupted from the ground only to be quickly scared away by Steve's psionic blasts.

"By the elder brain, how did you end up so far from your origin?" asked Steve. "Have you been wandering the plane for days?"

"No. I don't know," said Spider-man defensively. "I don't even know how I got here."

As they continued to walk Spider-man noticed their island was just as strange a shape as the others having weird bends, narrow strips of land, and jutting hills. Eventually an awkward silence fell over the two travelers. Small talk did not come easily with an evil octopus wizard.

Spider-man's eyes were trying to find something to focus on. It was hard in such a sea of nothingness. He side glanced up at the slender, stoic figure beside him. Steve, his blue tentacles hanging where a mouth should have been, walked, his hands together in front of him, hid in his long violet cloaks. His focus never shifted from straight in front of him.

Spider-man looked around.

You know, for being an alien plane of existence, this place was really boring.

"Sooo…," said Spider-man trying to add some sound to the void. "Uhhh…what's up with all these puddles?" he asked motioning to a glistening pool of liquid beside them. This one was silver but he had already seen half a dozen in various colors. They scattered the rocky landscape like wet spots in a parking lot.

Steve came to a stop.

"These are color pools," he instructed.

"What do they do? Anything?"

"Concentrate on it and discover for yourself."

Spider-man gave Steve a look then stared down into the shallow puddle. As he did it changed from silver to dappled green and brown. He stared closer. He could see brightly colored birds fluttering on the other side. It was a jungle. He could see… monsters. Hideous deformed beasts that staggered and lumbered in the thick underbrush. One noticed him.

"WOAh!"

Spider-man quickly stepped back away from the pool as a monster charged at him. Just in time too. The animal failed to make it through the puddle. It didn't even ripple as it faded back to silver.

"A portal into an undiscovered country," said Steve unphased.

"That was real then?"

"Yes, color pools, gateways to other worlds and planes."

Spider-man did a double take.

"WHAT‽ Are you serious?"

"Why would I not be?"

"These are all portals? All of them?" he asked looking around.

"Yes."

"So if I go through this puddle I'll go to another dimension?" he asked pointing.

"Yes. I thought that was self-explanatory."

"And you didn't think to warn me? What if I just stepped in one?"

"Well that would be very foolish."

"It's not foolish if I don't know."

"It would be ignorant then."

"Ugh!" cried Spider-man exasperated. Then he switched to excitement. "But this, this is it! This could be a way for Wolvie and me to get home!"

"Do you mean to your other world? Not the material plane of which you are currently tethered?"

"Yah!"

"How will you find your original world without a tether to it? There is an infinite number of pools."

"Oh. Good point."

"Additionally," said Steve driving home his unenthusiasm. "You would need to travel to this plane with your material body, not just as a projection, lest you enter a new plane with a tether forever attached to the astral."

"Ok! I get it. But it's a start. It's a clue. This is an exciting development. You don't have to be such a sourpuss about it."

Steve gave him a look.

"Get it?" he asked slyly. "Because you're an octopus."

Steve pushed him in the puddle.

The forest, only a day ago green and vibrant, was a twisted and barren wasteland of grey ash and black soot. Felled trees littered the ground in all directions, the flakes of their burnt wood and bark wisping in the wind like filthy snow. The sky was a dismal overcast casting the entire landscape in an endless grey expanse.

Hung over his back, still very much unconscious, Spider-man mumbled a small cry in Wolverine's ear.

He readjusted his hold on him.

"Sorry kid. I know it's gotta be uncomfortable."

"I would go so far as to say it likely hurts," said Nih.

The adventurers weren't faring well. Wyn, her armor shredded like a tin can had a long trio of cuts down her chest accidentally given to her by Wolverine. They were out of health potions and healing magic so bandages were the best they could do. They all knew it was going to scar. Nih was cradling his side. After looking him over, Logan was sure the druid had a few broken ribs from a hammer strike, and Boksee, poor Boksee. Although she was the only one that was given a health potion she had vicious burns and blisters across most of her skin from the fire attack. At least hers were tended to quickly enough not to scar.

And with Logan carrying the burden of Spider-man's weight, everyone was limping along at a lackluster speed. Ash had coated them making them look like moving statues and several had started to develop a cough.

"I can't believe one mage with one weapon did all this," said Boksee looking around.

"It will take decades for this forest to recover," said Nih bitterly. "And even longer for this now unhallowed ground."

"Unhallowed?" asked Boksee.

"Yes, agreed Wyn. "So much life, so many lives lost here, so quickly, so unjust. I wouldn't be surprised if this place ends up just like the ashen woods."

"Indeed," said Nih. "Not only did Summer destroy an entire forest, he also executed his slaves. It's a good thing we slaid him. So many angered spirits are not to be messed with. At least now they have their vengeance."

"How many do you think there were?" asked Boksee.

"To build a super weapon like that? Hundreds."

"Where do you even get so many slaves?" she continued. "Where do you get any slaves?"

"Stolen children. Sold orphans. Prisoners of war," said Nih far too calmly.

The team grimaced in disgust.

Boksee and Nih continued their conversation.

"Will anyone even know the people who were killed here?" she asked.

"Very unlikely. We don't even know who they were." Nih nodded to himself. "Just the nameless victims of battle."

"Mounds," said Logan.

"What?"

"That's what the boys and I called 'em. When you'd enter a town or a battlefield and there'd be mounds of graves but no names."

"Were you a soldier?" asked Boksee.

"Mm hm," grunted Logan.

"I've heard that's not uncommon with older adventurers," said Wyn matter-of-fact.

"Don't call me old tuts," said Logan seriously.

"Sorry."

There was an awkward pause, the dead forest eerily silent save for the rasp of wind over ash and Spider-man's labored breath.

Wyn cleared her throat.

"It was extremely fortunate we were able to stop Summer right as he was getting started," she said. "Thank the divine for Strana's good fortune."

"Yah, we saved the country, maybe even the whole bloom'n world and no one is even going to know about it," said Boksee.

"The nameless heroes of battle," said Nih with a smirk.

"Ain't noth'n special. That's the usual deal," said Logan. "Always is. A cold beer, a hot meal. Those are the best rewards you can hope for at the end of the day."

"I'm looking forward to a nice spiritual cleansing myself," said Nih almost returning to his usual pleasantness. "I would be a happier elf if I could forget this whole ordeal."

"Forget'n ain't all it's cracked up to be," said Logan. "You don't feel better. You just don't remember why your hurt'n."

Nih looked over to him with slight surprise.

Wyn took a drink from her pouch.

"We'll need to ration our supplies. I doubt we'll find any huntable or forgeable food here,"

The team nodded as she felt the weight of her water skin.

"Or clean water."

The lake was putrid.

As they made their way around the bank of the Ozero, it was clear that a fair amount of ash had already found its way into the water. The stench of dead fish, poisoned on lye, and floating together in clumps by the shore was almost unbearable.

"Maybe we should try to walk inland more," said Wyn holding a cloth over her face.

"Lake's faster," said Logan. "And we're less likely to get lost. Bad smell ain't gonna kill ya."

"Look out!" hissed Boksee.

She pulled the team over behind a fallen tree.

A massive set of wings flew over them and landed by the bank. A wrinkled red head with a sharp beak emerged from the black feathers and started trying to pluck fish from the water.

"Oh, never mind," she said. "It's just a vulture."

In several loud flaps, a few more flew down to join it.

Logan looked on in surprise. They were big. Not big enough to ride but as tall as he was.

"Big vultures."

"They shouldn't bother us," said Boksee.

Splash!

From the lake a monstrous crustacean, eight foot tall with huge claws erupted from the water and entangled a vulture in its fleshy pink mouth tentacles.

"That might," said Nih.

The team was all surprised now.

"Wanna tell me what that is?" asked Logan.

Wyn rolled her eyes.

"Of course a chuul would survive this polluted lake."

"A chuul?"

As the others clumsily took off, the vulture screeched and flailed as slowly and painfully the chuul dragged it beneath the surface.

"Unfortunately," said Nih. "I do believe it is now time for us to move inland.

"What?" asked Wolverine.

"Agreed. Chuul aren't a fun fight on the best of days," explained Boksee.

"And I do not believe any of us are in a state to fight," said Nih.

Wyn nodded.

"For real? We're running from an overgrown lobster?" snarled Logan.

"We have critically injured. Do you want to risk his life for your pride?" accosted Wyn.

Wolverine gave her a death glare and huffed, but didn't push the issue.

As the team began to sneak away further from the lake and the predators within, Wolverine readjusted his hold on Spider-man still straddling him.

"You're lucky I'm a people pleaser," he mumbled. "Come on kid," he said lifting him higher up onto his back. "Looks like we're going the long way." He huffed. "And when we get back, I'm putting you on a diet."

"You will not!" scolded Wyn from several feet away. "He looks thin!"

Wolverine made a surprised face that she heard him.

Distracted, he didn't notice the few drops of blood dripping from the corner of Spider-man's mouth.

Spider-man put a hand to his stomach.

"Ow," he thought.

He licked his lips, a weird iron taste on his tongue.

Should he be having pain like this? Well, he did have a boob hole. It was nice and clean in the astral plane, just missing flesh, but in his actual body? He shuddered thinking about what his boob hole must be like.

Then he remembered.

He turned and gave Steve a look as sour as curdled milk.

He was sure, he was so sure that that octopus looking face was particularly smug.

"That could have killed me you know," he said bitterly. He had only been in the jungle for a split second but one second in the deep jungle surrounded by giant monsters is a second too long.

Steve smirked.

"Oh tut. Do you think I would risk, even for a moment, the life of my precious pet?"

"Would you think even for a moment…" mumbled Spider-man in a mocking voice under his breath.

"I'm already postulating names."

"Huh?"

"For my offspring, the one that will consume you to develop. What do you think of," he made some trilling squiggly noise fluttering his tentacles.

Spider-man raised his eyebrows.

"Boy or girl?" he asked.

"Ilithid do not have sexes."

"Androgenous, got ya. Hm, I think it could use a few more blblblblblbl," he said wriggling his fingers.

Steve gave him a look.

"I believe you are correct," he agreed. "My offspring should have an imposing name."

"MOHHHHHHHAAA"

Spider-man jumped at a sudden booming sound like a whale and the roar of a jet engine.

He glanced around then jumped again as the scaley coil of a great sea serpent, body as wide as a ship rose beside their rocky island.

The terrified human flailed backwards away from the edge.

He suddenly realized how exposed and defenseless he was out on this barren island. Nothing to swing onto. Nowhere to run!

"Mmm, your fear smells delectable," said Steve calmly.

"Steve!" cried Spider-man whipping toward him.

"Yes?"

"RUN!"

"There is currently no need.

"W-what?"

"It's simply a leviathan."

"A,a leviathan?"

There were a series of shriller but still very much monstrous and echoing calls.

"Ah, and she has podlings.

Spider-man turned to see an enormous reptilian face, like a dragon, raising before him at the edge of the island, its electric golden eyes focusing on him.

It was like staring down Galactus. He wasn't even the size of the thing's eye!

Without moving its mouth, and much to Spider-man's surprise, the leviathan spoke. His mind was filled with a deep female voice talking to him through telepathy.

"A grain of sand from a far-off beach," it said.

"P-pardon," asked Spider-man out loud.

"A drop of rain from a distant storm. Tell me, small one, of your home."

Spider-man gaped like a fish, too intimidated by the behemoth to answer.

"Existing for eons in a nearly empty void can be quite boring," said Steve nonchalantly walking up beside him. "Leviathans are intrigued by the new and novel. Go ahead. Fulfill her request. It would be much more convenient to us for this encounter to be a friendly one."

Spider-man looked to Steve, then back to the immense leviathan before him. It was motionless, watching him expectantly.

"Th-there are towers," said Spider-man trying to think of what to say and how to say it on the spot. "T-towers made of metal and glass, tall enough to scrape the clouds and there are as many towers standing together as trees in a jungle," he said unsure, the dragon staring at him unblinking.

"T-they are full of glass balls filled with lightening so even at night they shine as bright as day."

"Where did the towers come from?" asked Steve fascinated.

"Humans built them. They climbed like spiders weaving metal like webs until their towers reached the sky," he said with more confidence and summoning his inner poet. "I live in one."

The astral leviathan, surrounded by her podlings, baby dragons still as big as humpbacks, three of them, swimming around her like whale calves, floated before Spider-man listening to his stories.

He explained his apartment and all the wonders within like computers and toasters. He explained cars and planes and rocket ships all in medieval-ease. The leviathans and even Steve were all circled around him entranced by his explanations only posing the occasional question.

"And what did the humans find on the moon?" asked a podling.

"Nothing much. Mostly rocks."

"Then why did they bother going there?" asked Steve.

"The same reason they wanted to go to space at all. To claim territory, to beat other humans, to see the unknown, to go where no one had gone before. But that was many years ago. It's a story grandparents tell. These days we send golems into space to explore planets for us."

"Why not do that in the first place?" continued Steve.

"Our golems weren't good enough."

"What do you hope to find?" asked another podling.

"Anything," answered Spider-man. "When you know nothing learning anything is interesting."

Something about that sentence seemed to intrigue the mind flayer.

"Oh star of a stranger's sky," interrupted the leviathan speaking to Spider-man. "Beware of snakes in unfamiliar grass."

"Um thanks?"

And with no other parting words, the dragons swam back into the endless astral abyss until they vanished.

"Well that was…sudden, and vague,"

Steve grabbed Spider-man by the arm and twisted him behind him sending out a blast of psionic energy.

A black dog as big as a horse, covered in molten cracks with flaming red eyes shrieked as the energy blast slammed into its face. It stumbled to the side. It had been bolting right toward them.

"What is that‽ Why didn't my spider sense go off‽" shouted Spider-man horrified.

From the distance, two more dogs were barreling toward them, teeth bared in hideous snarls, huge fangs, barking and practically roaring, fire streaking behind.

Spider-man shot out some webbing more out of reflex then anything. To his mild surprise, strands of silk erupted from his wrists as usual. The dogs were snagged for a short moment but their heat quickly burned through it.

Casting a spell, Steve sent out a powerful streak of lighting from his fingertips. It struck a dog and connected to the other.

They both squealed and shrieked as their charred bodies seized then fell to the ground.

The first dog was back on its feet and lunged for Spider-man.

He kicked it in the jaw just in time for Steve to grab it by the face sending an electric eruption through it. The dog practically exploded in a flash of char and fire.

Spider-man looked around panting and gearing up to fight more, but there had only been the three of them.

"What were those things?" he demanded coming off the adrenaline.

"Hell hounds."

It was beginning to rain. Still trudging through ankle deep ash the adventurer team pushed forward, the ash beginning to mix with water forming a lye filled putty.

"Don't let it get in your eyes or mouth," said Logan as the wind started to pick up. "It'll burn ya."

With the inside of her cloak, Boksee was desperately trying to clean her face.

"It hurts!"

It was burning against her blistered skin.

Wyn pulled her shield.

"Stay behind me," she ordered trying to shield the half hafling from the wind.

"Wolverine, are we still going the right way?" called Nih from the back.

Logan stopped, squinting like everyone else in the whipping rain and debris. He desperately huffed at the air, coughing on a lungful of ash.

His eyes went wide.

He didn't smell anything. Just ash, burn, blood, and rot.

Wyn saw the fear in his eyes.

"We're lost?" she asked.

Logan snarled.

"I told you we shouldn't have left the lake!" he snapped.

"Ranger, can you lead us?" asked Wyn.

"How?" replied Boksee. "What is there to track? Everything's destroyed!"

"The energies are all mangled and maddened," said Nih. "There is no sun. No stars."

Spider-man's breath was practically gargling over Wolverine's shoulder.

"Wait," said Nih. "The wind!"

"What about it."

"It's almost always true that it blows eastward or westward, not north or southward. We need to move intersecting the wind since Little Monds is north.

"Good work elf boy!" shouted Wolverine.

"But we still don't know what's north or south!" said Wyn.

"I, I know how to tell!" exclaimed Boksee in realization. "Everyone we need to raise a tree. One that still has its branches!"

Spider-man stood with Steve looking over the massive dead dogs.

"Hell hounds?" he asked.

"Yes," said Steve puzzled. "They are creatures not of this dimension, instead residing in the lower planes."

"Lower planes? You mean like hell?"

"That is one yes."

"What the heck were they doing here then?"

"I do not know," said Steve examining a pile of ash that used to be a dog. "Strange. Any and all planes can interact with the astral but it is extremely rare for all but save a few creatures to enter it."

"And I'm betting hell hounds aren't on the usual list."

"Correct. Hm. Perhaps, it is like your moon, lower creatures are attempting to claim territory here."

"Well that doesn't sound good."

"It is of little concern to us. Let us continue," said Steve calmly resuming their walk

Spider-man looked at the dead dogs then shrugged and joined him.

"Now my pet, I was rather enjoying our previous conversation. Now that we are not entertaining leviathans you may speak more plainly. Tell me more about the properties of jet fuel."

Carefully putting down Spider-man, Wolverine helped the rest of the team raise a small tree back to standing.

"Now what?" he asked.

"We need to see which side of the tree has more branches," said Boksee. "That's south."

"Why?" asked Wyn.

"The sun spends more time in the southern sky than the northern," said Boksee. "At least where we live. The tree will grow more branches and leaves to take advantage of it."

"Excellent work ranger," said Nih.

They circled around the tree several times.

"It looks like this way," said Wyn pointing.

"Agreed."

"So we need to move this way, and keep walking perpendicular to the wind," said Nih.

"Great work people," said Logan grabbing back Spider-man. "Let's move -ah!"

Logan and Spider-man were suddenly enveloped in a mass of writhing pink tentacles. They stung him like a jellyfish! He slashed at them severing their hold but suddenly felt his legs go weak. His body betraying him, he tumbled to the ground landing hard on Spider-man.

A chuul, the creature that had attacked them, shrieked a hideous insectoid sound at the slicing of its tentacles.

"Logan!"

Boksee shot an arrow at the chuul landing it in its bleeding mouth. It staggered back.

"What is that thing doing here‽" she demanded.

"It must have hunted us from the lake," said Nih.

"Claws!" shouted Wyn.

Wolverine was still on the ground. He…he couldn't move.

He snarled willing his hands and feet to budge but they didn't even twitch.

Spider-man was trapped face down in the wet ash beneath him.

Somewhere in the infinite astral, the man and the mind flayer were continuing to follow Spider-man's tether.

"So," said Spider-man as he and Steve climbed up a steep cliff. Spider-man easily scaled it because he was Spider-man. Steve walked up the cliff through magic. "Despite the atoms rearranging into molecules," continued Spider-man. "The number of those various atoms must be equal on both sides of the equation. Conservation of mass and all that."

"Indeeed," moaned Steve in pleasure.

"Woah, ok," said Spider-man turning to him. "You sound like you're enjoying this way too much."

"Your delectable other worldly knowledge is stimulating my reproductive faculties."

"WHAT‽ EW! No! No! You're jerking off to this! No! Ew!"

"Explain to me atomic bonds or I will blast you with psionic energy!" Steve commanded aiming a hand at him.

"Oh no. I am a slut," whined Spider-man. "Logan was right about me. Ok," he said dejected. "So remember the parts of an atom…"

Spider-man stopped.

"Hm?" asked Steve interrupted.

Spider-man groaned grabbing his stomach and chest. He screamed.

"My pet, what's wrong?"

"I, I don't know. It…hurts!"

Spider-man gasped. He couldn't breathe! He slipped tumbling down the cliffside.

"Treasure!" exclaimed Steve following after him,

Spider-man hit the ground hard but that didn't bother him. It was the pain in his stomach and chest. He twisted over onto his side clutching his gut.

Sliding down beside him, Steve watched as Spider-man flickered. His body and tether began phasing in and out.

"Claws!" shouted Wyn.

"It got him!" cried Boksee.

Wolverine struggled and frothed at the mouth trying to move. It was like he was being pinned down by the hulk. Whatever he had been stung with paralyzed him! Spider-man was crushed and unconscious beneath him and adamantium is not a light metal!

Wyn pulled her shield.

"Boksee keep firing! Nih get the men! I'll cover you!"

The rain was picking up.

With the crack of lightning, Boksee began rapid firing into the thing's only vulnerable spot, it's tentacled mouth. Nih dashed up and grabbed Logan under the arms and began running him out of harm's way.

"NO!" screamed Logan internally. "You fuck'n idiot! Get him! Not me! HIM!" but his mouth only made an unintelligible moan.

"I can't breathe. I can't breathe," gasped Spider-man curling and trembling in a tight ball.

Steve put a single hand to him.

"My treasure," he said in realization. "You are dying."

Spider-man went wide eyed. He looked to the mind flayer.

"I thought, you said…"

"No, your material body, it's beginning to fail."

Somehow Spider-man's eyes went even wider.

"Wha, what will happen," he gasped. "What will happen to me if I…if, I, If I die but I'm still in here?"

"I…don't know," he said watching Spider-man's flickering tether.

Nih finished running Logan over a few good feet and quickly went back for Spider-man.

The chuul made a grab for him but Wyn smashed down its man-sized claw with her mace. The rock hard chitin didn't crack but the chuul recoiled in pain and rounded on her.

"Come on," frothed Logan in his head. "Come on. Move. Move. Move."

The chuul slapped Wyn away. She caught it with her shield but the force threw her to the side. Seizing the moment it dashed in and tried to grab up Spider-man's defenseless body.

"Don't you touch him you right bastard!" shouted Boksee loosing an arrow. It landed directly in the thing's eye.

It let out an ungodly noise.

Wyn brought her mace crashing into one of its slender legs breaking it. It whipped around and latched a claw around her. She was smashed between the two razor sharp pinchers, her shield and armor the only thing keeping her from being sliced in half.

"MOVE!"

Forcing his body to process the poison at an impossible speed Wolverine leapt to his feet. He fell, his legs feeling limp but clawed his way forward until he got his feet back under him.

Nih snatched up Spider-man, finally pulling him out of the ash and ran him out of the way as Logan bolted into the fight.

Another crack of thunder and Wolverine was leaping through the air, rain scattering around him.

He brought his claws plunging between the chuul's eyes. They slid in and pierced the thing's tiny brain. With a hard wrench of his arm, he sliced straight down the thing's ugly face cutting it into thirds.

Twitching and spurting the body of the chuul fell to the ground.

The rest of the party were all stunned by the sudden and decisive killing blow.

Wolverine gave them a quick glance over his shoulder.

"Adamantium beats shell," he huffed shaking the slime from his claws in a quick flip. "Told ya we shouldn't have run from a fuck'n lobster."

He ran over to Spider-man where Nih was tending to him.

"He ok?"

Nih was clearing wet ash from his nose and mouth. His breath had turned into a sort of barking jerk, as he was only able to manage quick gasps for air.

Suddenly the wind blew so hard it nearly knocked the team off their feet. Thunder boomed like gunfire. The rain was intensifying.

"Come on!" shouted Logan grabbing up Spider-man, screaming over the pouring rain. "We gotta keep movin'!"

"Wolverine!" snapped Wyn. "He can't keep going like this! None of us can!"

She motioned to Boksee who was helping Nih back to his feet after overexerting his broken ribs. "We have to rest!"

"We don't got time to rest," he said with venom.

"He is going to die if we don't stop!"

"He's gonna die if we do!"

"If we rest I'll be able to perform more healing magic," said Nih stepping between them. "It will allow us more time to get him back."

Wolverine considered this.

He nodded.

"Fine."

"Let's find some shelter and set up camp," said Wyn.

Steve was making his way through the astral void across the lone island. He turned to Spider-man.

"How are you feeling?"

Spider-man was back on his feet, a little shaken, but walking.

"Better," said Spider-man holding his stomach. "I think it was just a scare, you know?"

Steve gave him a skeptical look.

"I mean I'm sure my team is taking good care of me. They wouldn't let me… yah."

"I'm sure," agreed Steve unconvinced. "Regardless, we must work to return you to your physical body as quickly as possible. Your mana is currently divided between two planes. You stand a much better chance at survival with your mana intact."

"Mm," nodded Spider-man. He looked around. "So, do we not need to sleep in the astral plane? I feel like we've been walking for days but I'm not tired."

"We do not."

Thunder boomed.

Rain poured.

The wind roared.

Of course there was a bright side to it all. With all the dead wood around there was plenty to burn for a campsite, even if there was nothing to cook over it. Pre-charcoaled too. Finding some that had escaped the rain was the trick though.

While Wyn gathered wood, Boksee and Nih used their understandings of the land to find an overhang. It wasn't a full cave but it was deep enough for them to set up their fire and sleeping bags. The group settled in, warming and drying themselves and eating the smallest bites of their rations they could afford.

After redressing Spider-man's wet bandages with fresh ones Wolverine put his ear to the other man's chest.

It took a moment of listening, but eventually he scowled.

"Rattles," he said sourly.

"What does that mean?" asked Boksee pulling her wet blouse over her head.

"That's a sign of lung sickness right?" asked Wyn.

"Yah. Means there's garbage in there. Blood and ash if I'm guess'n. Ain't good."

Logan put a hand to his forehead.

"Fuck," he hissed quietly. "And fever. Fuck, fuck," he continued to hiss.

"Hey," said Boksee crawling over and putting a hand on his shoulder. "It's going to be ok. He's going to be ok."

Logan shoved her hand away.

She looked hurt but held her tongue as she went back to her sleeping bag.

The group sat silently for a moment.

"Hey elf boy," said Logan.

"Hm?"

"You can help him swallow right?"

"Yes."

"Help me give him a drink would ya?"

Nih nodded.

Scooting over, he gently held Spider-man's head back and stroked his throat as Logan poured the water between his teeth.

"Isn't that your pouch Wolvie?" asked Boksee.

Wyn looked over.

Indeed it was.

"You shouldn't be doing that," she said. "We all need our rations."

"I just traded with him," said Logan. "His was nearly empty." He huffed. "If he didn't talk so much maybe he wouldn't be so thirsty."

"Like you're anyone to complain about someone else needing a drink," said Boksee with a small smirk.

"It don't count if it ain't at least forty proof."

"We should try to collect some rain water," said Wyn. "Oh! That reminds me. Did you pour booze on him?"

"What?" asked Logan.

"It's tradition correct?"

"I've never heard of it," said Boksee.

"Hm, we must honor tradition," said Nih stroking his chin. He pulled his pouch of homemade brew from his bag and leaned over Spider-man.

Like he was anointing him, he poured a few drops on his forehead.

"Like that?" asked Nih.

"I guess that works," said Wyn.

Logan gave them all a look.

"You all got weird traditions."

Spider-man stopped.

He sniffed.

"Hey do you smell hand sanitizer?" he asked Steve. "…and ginger?"

"How could you possibly smell? We are in an airless void on another plane of existence."

Spider-man shrugged.

Night had fallen in full and the fire was beginning to settle in to hot glittering embers.

Wolverine was sat cross-legged braiding some repurposed scraps of thread into a single strong strand.

Wyn looked over at him.

"Aren't you going to sleep?" she asked. "I've got first watch."

"I will," said Logan. "Not tired yet."

Nih and Boksee were already tucked in.

Wyn looked them over, then turned to Wolverine.

"Hey Claws. Can I ask you a question?"

He grunted.

"This might seem out of the blue but…what do you think mercy is?"

Logan didn't look up from his braiding.

"Kid got in your head," he replied curtly.

"Well yah. I mean, we kind of had this talk, when we first met…"

"Mercy is a luxury," the mutant interrupted firmly still twisting away at his strings. "And it ain't one you got on the battlefield. You kill or be killed. You think my boys would have lasted two days if we were going around giving mercy to enemy soldiers?"

He made a finger gun and shot himself in the head. Then he went back to braiding.

"Most people don't deserve mercy. Never have."

"But if they deserved it," said Wyn unsure. "It wouldn't be mercy."

Logan sighed putting down his thread.

"He really fuck'n got in your head."

He turned and looked down at his string. In a flash of anger he grabbed it in a hard fist and slammed it into the ground.

"And he fuck'n got into mine too."

"What do you mean?" she began but Logan quickly interjected.

"Back there! Back there with Summer," he hissed through clenched teeth trying to keep his voice down. "I knew it, I knew we were fuck'n asking for it. I could have gone in for the kill right then but I didn't I let him stop me, let him talk. The fuck'n idiot. But you know who's the bigger idiot? ME! 'Cause I knew better!"

Wyn looked at him stunned. "Any of us could have…" she tried to interject but Logan continued.

"He's just a kid. He's never been in the field. He's never seen his mates get their fuck'n brains blown out 'cause you didn't have the guts to shoot someone down. I have. I'm supposed to know better. What's the point in being older than the dirt when you're still mak'n mistakes like this?"

Logan snarled looking away.

"No, I'm wrong. My boys, my mates. All the wars. They weren't any older than him. We send our boys out like fuck'n pigs to the slaughter. Sometimes I remember."

Logan, teeth bared, face contorted in misery had tears flowing down his stubbled cheeks.

"Claws," said Wyn surprised reaching for him.

She stopped seeing him bristle at her approached.

He quickly wiped his face on his arm and shook his head.

"This one," he said pointing at Spider-man. "This one. This dumb motherfucker, I'm gonna get this one home. You hear that you dumb bastard!" he snarled down at him. "I'm getting you home. So don't you fuck'n quit, 'cause I ain't."

He picked up his thread and continued braiding.

Wyn was too stunned to push the matter further. Silence took the pair.

"Don't make me wear this," he said softly.

Spider-man felt tears well up in his eyes. They weren't enough to come out but they were enough to make his vision blurry.

"What's wrong?" asked Steve.

"N-nothing," said Spider-man quickly looking the other direction.

"Your eyes are excessively moist. Either you have irritation or you are preparing to weep. I highly doubt the former considering our current astral state."

Spider-man huffed embarrassed.

"It's nothing," he said trying to will his eyes to dry. "I just thought I heard something."

Steve looked Spider-man over.

"Tell me pet, of this wizard who wounded you. I will of course need to hunt him down and execute him for the crime of injuring my pet, that is once I have you secured away of course," he said casually.

"Of course," agreed Spider-man sarcastically. "Well I don't think you'll have to worry about that. I think he's dead. I don't remember much but I definitely remember Wyn shouting to kill him and after he betrayed me, yah, I can see my team doing that."

"You were betrayed?" asked Steve surprised. "How did that happen?"

"What do you mean?"

"To be betrayed you must instill some amount of trust. You instilled trust in your enemy?"

"Well yah I guess. I mean, I gave him a chance to do a better thing and I kind of literally got stabbed in the back for it."

"Why would you do such a thing?"

"I didn't want him to be killed. The whole reason we went to find him was to get information. We're trying to find our way home. Plus, you know. I wanted to show a little mercy. I don't like killing when you don't have to."

"What is mercy?"

"You don't know what mercy is?"

"I would have thought that was obvious by my questioning."

"Huh, mercy is when you forgive someone or don't punish someone even though they deserve it."

"So…injustice?"

"What?"

"If someone deserves punishment and that punishment is not administered then it is injustice."

"Huh maybe."

"Is injustice not inherently bad? I believe that justice is an inherent good, so injustice must be inherently bad yes?"

"No, that's not right," said Spider-man mulling it over. He got an odd feeling and looked over his shoulder. He didn't see anything. He shook his head. "No, mercy is always portrayed as good, you know."

"But how can a good, justice, and it's opposite, injustice, both be good?"

"Well, I mean, opposites can both be good. Like, hot and cold. Both are good in different circumstances."

"No. Both may be advantageous in different circumstances. Neither cold nor hot is inherently good in alignment. They are neutral. Justice is always good is it not?"

"N-no," said Spider-man looking behind him some more. He could swear something was watching him. "Well, I mean, maybe it's not, an inherent good you know. Maybe only sometimes it's not good. And maybe sometimes mercy isn't good. Maybe it depends on the circumstances."

"I can't imagine what those circumstances may be," said Steve waving him off. "I for one will certainly not be showing mercy to anyone. I believe in law and order. Justice must be administered."

"Hey do you get the feeling something is watching us?" Spider-man finally asked out loud.

A glorious golden sun began to rise.

As soon as the tiniest tip of it had raised over the horizon, Logan grunted.

"'bout time. Everyone up! Let's move people," barked the mutant like a husky drill instructor, clapping his hands.

Boksee groaned coming to as Wolvie walked by.

"When did he get to be in charge?" she grumbled at Wyn.

"Well," she said groggily. "He's not wrong."

"Ughhh…"

Carefully moving around his broken ribs, Nih sat up and pushed his long white hair out of his face.

He yawned rubbing an eye.

"I need to perform healing on Spider-man. Give me a moment to align my energies."

He went over to the far end of the hangover and started moving through some stretches.

Wyn went to go check on Spider-man. She was sure Wolverine had been checking on him all night but she wanted to know for herself. She figured it was easier to just check than try to ask Logan.

With Wolverine watching her the entire time, Wyn knelt down beside her wounded friend. He was looking worse than ever. Ghostly pale skin that almost seemed green in places and dark sunken eyes that looked positively bruised. She lowered her head putting her ear over his heart. Logan was right. His short rapid breaths sounded like crunching leaves.

"Has he woken up at all?" she asked toward Wolverine.

He shook his head.

She sat back up.

She was used to seeing the injured, living at the convent, but usually not this close, and never her friends. She didn't really have those until recently.

With care, she tried to comb back Spider-man's filthy hair from his face.

"You feeling aligned yet?" she called to Nih.

"As much as I can be I suppose. Yes," he walked over and knelt down beside him, extending out his hands.

"By the soil that gave us form and the air that breathed us life," he hissed. "May this creature's wounds begin to mend."

The usual red glow encompassed the pair, however Spider-man didn't react in any way. Not even a grunt or wriggle in pain.

The adventurers looked to each other concerned.

Steve looked around.

"Watching us?" he asked amused.

"Yah. I've got this weird feeling that something's watching us."

Spider-man put a hand to his stomach. He was having pain again, but it was different, far away. It was quickly brushed aside.

"Oh my sweet pet," Steve patronized. "There is no need for such irrational fear. You are with me. I will protect you. You may come closer for security if you wish," he said holding open an outer cloak at him.

Spider-man went bright red.

"I'm not even going to reply to that," he said curtly.

Steve laughed at him, actually laughed.

"Oh how amusing. What by the elder brain could a blind worm like yourself sense that I, an imposing figure of magical and psionic abilities, could not?"

Spider-man looked away his arms crossed pouting.

"I don't know," he grumbled. "Don't gotta laugh."

"Oh dear. Have I offended my beloved pet" asked Steve dripping with patronization. A tentacle stroked the side of Spider-man's head.

"Oh gross! I don't know what you do with those!" he said trying to swat it away.

Steve laughed as Spider-man flailed as more tentacles came at him. Suddenly Steve's mouth was around his skull.

"Steve!"

With the new dawn had come a new energy to the ruined forest. Though the land was still grey and the trees still felled and twisted, the sun shown, the sky was blue with fluffy white clouds, and the warm summer wind was inviting and friendly. It was almost as if the squall last night was a fit of crying after a great hurt that began the forest's healing.

As the adventurers continued their slow voyage across the land, Boksee spotted something. Her face lit up.

"Hey Nih, look."

He turned.

A tiny flock of birds were gathered plucking charred worms out of the dirt.

Not too far off, animal tracks scurried through the damp ash.

The ranger and druid smiled.

Logan looked up to see the kettle of vultures soaring on the warm air currents. Like great fish, they were surrounded by robins and sparrows flocking together in their breaking wind.

The smallest of relieved grins spread on his lips.

"Look kid. The weather broke. Birds are out. You like birds right? You gotta wake up and see these huge vultures."

Spider-man gargled and rasped against his shoulder.

Wolverine bit his lip.

"Now don't you quit. You stay right here. It's an easy walk from now on. Don't you go anywhere."

With the constant smell of blood and sick coming from Spider-man, Logan didn't notice the dark crimson beginning to leak freely from the unconscious man's mouth.

"I said it was an accident," said Steve as they continued.

"You tried to eat me," said Spider-man bitterly.

"It wouldn't have even worked. We are astral projections."

"Yah but if I was safe from harm here you wouldn't have to escort me."

Steve bristled.

"Gotcha," said Spider-man triumphant. Then with a frown, he came to a stop. Had it gotten dark? Is that a thing here? He looked around confused to see they were suddenly engulfed under an enormous shadow. Spider-man turned and looked up.

Floating above him, like a boy looking over an ant hill, was a stone face bigger than Mount Rushmore.

He yawped.

Steve grimaced.

"Why must your sounds of fear always be so loud," he said rubbing his temples.

After a second of being frozen in place from shear shock, Spider-man realized it was just a statue, an unbelievably huge and realistic statue. It had a whole body attached and everything.

Spider-man's face shifted to a bright pink in embarrassment.

"Sorry, that startled me. Heh, maybe that's what's been watching us," he joked with an uncomfortable laugh as the statue slowly drifted by them.

"Oh no," said Steve seriously. "That god is very much dead."

"Wait what?"

"What?"

"A god? What do you mean?"

"The astral plane was never meant to be visited. It has only one function and that is as a resting place for the dead gods."

"So this isn't a statue? It's a dead guy?"

"Correct."

Spider-man frowned and looked up at the massive stone corpse. It looked oddly familiar, like he had already seen it a dozen times over. Oh, he knew why. It had the same texture as the ground. That's a weird coincidence. Maybe it was carved from one of the islands.

The islands…

He looked to the islands, the ones floating everywhere in the far distance. He had thought they had been odd shapes but…

"Hold on," asked Spider-man, a cold sense of realization falling over him. "Are, are all these islands… corpses?"

"Yes," said Steve nonchalantly.

"And…" he pointed to the ground.

"Yes."

"We've been on a corpse this entire time?"

"Indeed. Quite a large one. The only land masses in the astral are dead gods."

Spider-man's eyes went wide.

"Unbelievable."

He stared up at the massive stone corpse one more time this time really looking it over. It was humanoid with cow like horns erupting from its head, wings, and multiple arms. It was curled in the fetal position.

"Do you know what god this was?" asked Spider-man.

"Of course not," said Steve.

"Huh?"

"No one does."

"How do you know?"

"A god is a creature of thought and ideas. It is given life and power by the belief of those who worship it. A god is only truly killed when no one is left to think of it."

"So all these islands, they're forgotten gods?"

"Indeed. However it happened, no one believes in them or even knows their names anymore."

Spider-man nodded looking up into the dead god's face.

"There are clues though," said Steve. "Each of these islands has an inner world, like a dream of what the god represented, what it brought to the tapestry of existence. Studying these inner worlds can help us understand their history. I believe we will be traveling through one."

"Really?"

"Yes. Your tether seems to be leading us deeper and deeper into this island. We will likely be passing through the center of it."

Alright then, I guess we're going dream surfing."

Spider-man's tether indeed led the pair of pilgrims further and further toward the center of the island. Once they reached the lower stomach, Spider-man was finally able to see in the far distance, like a mountain on the horizon, the face of the dead god they had been walking on this entire time. It was a woman, calm, regal, and completely unreadable, her eyes closed. In the center of her chest, like a great chasm, was a glowing opening swirling with purple and blue clouds.

He had never known her, but he suddenly felt a deep sense of loss staring up into her frozen remains.

"I wonder what her name was," said Spider-man.

"No one will ever know," said Steve nonchalantly.

"That's what we all have to look forward to isn't it? All of us. One day, no matter who we were, no one will remember we ever existed."

"Yes, that is the nature of finite existence," agreed Steve unphased. "Of course being an Ilithid I am privileged to have quite a long existence as even when my body expires I will live as part of the collective in the…hive mind…" he said trailing off.

Spider-man looked at him.

"No, I won't… I am no longer attached to the hive mind," he said in realization. He stopped and stared into the grey abyss.

"Steve?" asked Spider-man.

The mind flayer did a little head shake, his tentacles twisting.

"Oh, I was just assaulted by the questions. It happens to me these days. You seem to stir new ones within me, justice versus mercy, individualism versus… loneliness. Tell me my pet, what are your thoughts on living?"

"Pardon?"

"What is the point of existence when we are all destined to disperse into the void? Why do we cling so desperately to life when we know our ultimate fate? What is the value of any experience when those experiences cannot be saved?"

Spider-man looked surprised then he thought.

"I've had thoughts like that too," he admitted. "Sometimes I wonder what the point is, to any of it. I mean, I'm not going to lie. When I thought I was dead, I was excited. That's not right is it? You should want to be alive."

"But for what reason? Is it merely a primitive sense of self-preservation?"

Spider-man shrugged.

"I don't know. Those are the questions aren't they? But I do know this. I think everyone has questions like that. Questions that don't really have an answer even though they're the most important questions."

"Ilithid don't," said Steve flatly. "I never did before. I was content in my understanding."

"Well, now you're an Ilithid that does."

There was a long pause.

"It is…pleasing," said Steve. "Pleasing to ask someone else the questions even if the answer is not presented."

Spider-man nodded.

"Yah," he agreed. "Anyway. Ready to do this?" he asked motioning to the far-off opening.

"Yes."

As Spider-man and Steve entered into the island itself they were enveloped in thick glowing clouds of blues, and blacks, and purples. The condensation was so thick they couldn't see for a moment, but they pushed forward. As soon as it cleared, they found themselves in the tiny pocket world within the dead god.

It was simple, but astonishing.

A single still lake was spread out before them.

The lake was full of stars. It was a perfect mirror reflection of the most resplendent night sky Spider-man had ever seen hanging above. It was brilliant with shimmering bands of stars, space clouds of the most vibrant colors, and majestic swirling galaxies.

"Holy…" said Spider-man unable to articulate.

"Yes, it is rather impressive," agreed Steve. "Perhaps this was a god of the greater cosmos or she was responsible for dressing the night sky with starlight. Oh, perhaps she was a god of nautical navigation. That would explain the lake."

Spider-man wasn't listening. He was too astounded by the sheer scale and majesty of this inner world. He shivered, it was slightly cold here, unlike the astral which had no temperature whatsoever. After taking it in for another long moment he looked down toward the lake. His tether was pulling out across it. He didn't see any way around.

"I guess we're going swimming."

Spider-man moved to enter, extending his foot down toward the water. Instead of sinking it hit the lake like it was a solid floor, but it sent out rings of ripples. He slipped.

"Ah!"

He thrashed about and managed to steady himself, arms outspread, both feet on the water slowly sliding, ripples forming around him.

"It's like ice," he said amazed. "But it's water still?"

"It would seem so," said Steve intrigued.

Moving like he was ice skating, Spider-man glided across the celestial water, ripples flowing behind him in the constellations and bright galaxies. He stopped not too far away.

"Huh. Come on Steve. You know how to skate right?"

"Why by the elder brain would an Ilithid know how to skate?" he said with near disgust.

Spider-man did a small spin.

"Oh, so another thing you don't know," he teased.

"I know precisely what skating is," he snapped offended. "But why would I do it? It's a sport of lower life forms. Undignified and pointless. Worms amused by flailing on a lack of friction."

"Sourpuss."

Spider-man chuckled.

"Well you're gonna have to if you wanna get across the lake."

Steve scoffed. Then he gave Spider-man a look.

"Again? Why are you weeping?" he asked straight forward.

"Huh?"

Spider-man stopped and realized hot streaks were running down his face. Puzzled, he put a few fingers to his cheek. They came back damp. He was crying, so freely at that that a few tears fell straight off his chin and into the water below.

"I, don't know."

As the team continued through the ashy landscape Wolverine gave the air a sniff.

The smell of hot blood was getting stronger. It might be time to change Spider-man's bandages again. They didn't have many left to spare. Then he felt something hot and wet drip onto his back.

He quickly looked over his shoulder and out of the corner of his eye saw red.

"No no no."

At the sound, the team turned to see Logan pulling Spider-man off and putting him on the ground.

Thick black blood was oozing between his ghostly white lips. It streaked down his face.

Tears streaked down Spider-man's face.

He and Steve stood beneath the celestial sky. Spider-man was out on the lake, tears running freely down his cheeks while Steve waited back on the bank watching him.

"I don't know," said Spider-man again puzzled. "I'm not sad."

Steve stroked a tentacle. "Inner worlds have been known to have strange effects. Dreams often come with strong emotions."

"But I'm not sad," asserted Spider-man again. He looked up into the brilliant night sky. Clouds of glowing galaxies swirled around themselves in an unmoving dance.

"Or…" he said thinking. "Maybe… I'm not sadder than I usually am?"

Spider-man turned away still gazing into the sky, his face blank.

"You know Steve," he said plainly. "I think maybe… maybe I've been sad for a long time."

Steve considered him silently waiting for him to elaborate further.

He didn't.

"You know, a girl I was trying to date and I met at a party once, real upscale thing you know. I was just there to take pictures but we ended up dancing. She was so surprised that I could dance. She even complimented me. I felt like I had a real shot with her then."

He smiled turning to the mind flayer.

"It never worked out. There was only one other thing she ever complimented me on, me me. Not Spider-man. It was our one and only real date."

He looked down at his feet.

With a deep breath and a small smile Spider-man started skating, really skating this time. It was slow at first, long wide circles, glistening white ripples shimmering across the still water. His silver tether, like a shining silken thread stuck straight out of his back never faltering.

Then he started skating faster. He wasn't amazing on the ice, but he was competent. His socked feet danced across the mirror surface in graceful slides and quick steps.

Faster.

He added spins and twirls.

Faster.

His still crying face grinned as he let himself have fun, gliding and spinning effortlessly beneath the starry sky. He missed web swinging. He missed going fast, the wind in his face. He missed a lot of things. He missed a lot of people.

Steve just stood on the bank watching him.

There was so much to worry about. So much to think about. So much to do, to be responsible for, to regret in the dark hours of the night, but here, in this moment…

With another few spins and his first leap Spider-man felt the Ilithid trying to enter his mind again. He let him. Steve probed into his mind but instead of looking for information or trying to control him, Steve just wanted to share consciousnesses. He wanted to experience ice skating with him. Maybe it was his spider balance and agility. Maybe it was because spiders are natural dancers. Maybe Spider-man just had a secret talent.

However it was happening, Spider-man, Steve riding shot gun in his mind, skated faster and faster, his smile growing wider and wider as his hair whipped in the wind. He leapt and spun and threw his arms and legs out, camel spins, spread eagle!

As his smile faded into a look of contentment, the tears too ceased.

Still enjoying the deep shifting glides, Spider-man circled in a few calm down laps before riding to a stop.

Steve exited his mind and they looked at each other from several feet away.

"I see now," said Steve. "Through physical action one may achieve a heightened spiritual state."

Spider-man shrugged.

"Perhaps this matter is worth looking into. After all, I have been at loss in a vast sea with my own sense of self and spirituality for many many years now. Ever since departing from the hive mind."

"It's hard being your own person," agreed Spider-man.

"It is a true shame my pet," said Steve. "A true shame indeed that for my heir to develop you must perish. I believe I have come to appreciate your presence for its own sake. How strange."

"Uh huh," said Spider-man trying not to make a face. There was still no way he was going to let him lay eggs in his brain or whatever. He looked back from his own musings in surprise to see Steve apprehensively moving a cloaked foot toward the water.

Carefully he placed it on the lake with a few ripples, then the other foot. Then, still remaining as poised and dignified as ever, he started skating toward Spider-man across the water, his purple cloaks breezing behind him.

"Now then," he said looking rather pleased with himself. "Let us continue."

Spider-man and the Ilithid made their way across the lake.

"What happened? What's wrong?" asked Wyn as the team circled around Wolverine and Spider-man.

"He's puke'n blood! What do you think‽" snapped Logan, his hands soaked.

"Why though?" asked Boksee.

"What changed? What happened?" asked Wyn.

"How the fuck should I know?"

Nih calmly stepped forward putting his hand to Logan's shoulder easing him out of the way.

Logan glared at him.

Exiting the inner world, Spider-man and Steve were once again graced with the grey abyss.

"Ah, the good ol' astral. I almost missed it."

"Really?" asked Steve.

"No."

"I can't believe I ended up this far away from my body. How did I even get out here?"

"I do not have the answer," said Steve. "Typically when one astral projects not only is it an active choice, but you also emerge by the color pool that leads to your material body. The tether is meant to guide you back, not guide you there to begin with."

"Of course I would be the odd ball amongst the odd balls," lamented Spider-man exasperated. "You know it's tiring being so darn special all the time."

As Steve and Spider-man descended down the back of the island Spider-man suddenly realized his tether was leading them off the land and straight across the abyss.

"Um…" said Spider-man looking out into the endless void.

"Yes?" asked Steve.

"I think we have a problem."

"What is that?"

"Dude, we ran out of land."

"That is no problem."

Steve calmly walked past him then, remarkably, he began walking through the sky. He floated like he was wading through water out across the infinite drop.

"Come on! I can't do that!" called Spider-man from back on the island. "I can't do magic."

Steve came to a stop floating in the astral sea. He turned back to him, his cloaks swaying.

"There is no magic. The astral plane is a plane of thought. Simply desire to float and you will," he called. "Do not let your inferior instincts hold you back from your potential."

"That was… oddly motivational," muttered Spider-man. "Ok."

Best to do this fast and dirty.

He walked back several steps, and took a deep breath. Closing his eyes, he thought about all the ways he had experienced flying. Swinging through the air. Being pulled through the sky by Dr. Strange. His dreams.

He took off running.

Dashing across the rocky surface he felt it, when his feet left the ground, but he didn't fall. Instead, he felt himself pushing against the air and it pushing back on him. He opened his eyes to see he was leaping through the abyss like a danseur leaping across the stage.

"Ha ha!" he exclaimed with delight.

He was moving fast enough that he quickly past Steve who was walking calmly.

"Walking suffices," he said flatly.

"I can't do it unless I do it fast!" Spider-man called back laughing.

Then he felt a familiar stabbing pain and his body began to flicker.

Spider-man was splayed out, propped against a tree, his mouth ajar and oozing blood, as the team huddled around him.

"I thought you said the healing would help him travel!" barked Logan to Nih.

The dark elf looked down at Spider-man.

"I…did my best," he said his voice cracking.

"Well do fuck'n better!"

"Logan!" scolded Wyn with command. "There's no need for that."

She took a long painful look down at Spider-man, then she turned back to her teammate. She spoke calm and plain.

"Maybe," she started. "Maybe it's just not meant to be-"

Logan smacked her. Hard.

Everyone was stunned, even Logan.

The look of blank shock on Wyn's face almost instantly morphed into a glare of death. She stood, raising to her full height over the crouched mutant. With a metal gauntleted hand she launched her fist into his face.

"Stop! Stop!" shouted Boksee and Nih jumping in to separate them.

Wolverine didn't fight as Nih pulled him away. Wyn snarled in fury as Boksee pushed her back.

"Stop it!" shouted Boksee.

"You don't touch me! Don't ever touch me! You bastard!" spat Wyn at Wolverine.

"I'm, I'm sor-" stuttered Logan.

"Stop fighting!"

"I didn't mean-"

Spider-man started convulsing.

"GAAHH! AHH!"he cried grabbing his stomach.

"Pet!" shouted Steve running toward him but it was too late.

Curling into a ball of pain, the thoughts of flight left him and Spider-man began plummeting through the void.

"PET!"

Still gasping in pain the wind whipping around him, Spider-man fell through space. It was infinite! He was going to fall forever! He screamed in abject horror.

Then salvation. He spotted a small chunk of island. It was some god's broken arm floating like driftwood. He shot out a web line and managed to pull himself toward it. Landing on a sheer rocky side, he clung for dear life.

He gasped trembling, but solid.

Then he flickered.

Then he fell.

"NO!"

He managed to catch himself again, just barely, hanging by one arm on a single web line.

He panted but felt the pain subsiding. Eyes wide, gasping, as he stared down at the dizzying void below.

"Pet! Treasure!" he heard Steve calling to him from above, moving toward him. Then…he heard something else.

"HELP!" called a voice from far below.

Spider-man's eyes somehow went wider

Someone else was here? And they needed help!

There was that feeling of someone watching him again.

"PET!" called Steve getting closer.

"HELP! HELP PLEASE!" called the voice.

Spider-man looked up. Then he looked down.

"HeELP!"

He let go.

Wyn was sat on a far tree. Her long lavender hair swayed in the warm summer breeze, as ash drifted around her heavy metal boots.

Silently, Logan stepped up behind her.

"Tuts?"

She glanced over her shoulder.

"How is he?" she asked plainly.

"Alive. Seizure stopped."

"Good."

"Look," said Logan shifting uncomfortably. "I ain't one for words but…I'm sorry. I shouldn't have hit ya'. Sometimes when things get real heated I forget who's friend or enemy."

She sighed and nodded.

"It's ok. I know you were just overwhelmed. People have always said I needed more tact."

"Ain't no excuse."

She nodded. Then with a deep breath and a smile, she turned and hopped off the tree, a fresh bruise on her cheek.

"Right. Let's get our boy home. I'm not quitting if you aren't."

"None of us are."

Nih and Boksee came up behind them.

With appreciation on his face, Logan nodded.

Falling head first through the void Spider-man saw another island coming into view. It was small and gnarled, the smallest island he had seen here and it was crumbling into pieces. It was the god who's arm he had been on. It was broken and scattered. He could see something flailing around on a chunk of its chest.

"What is that‽" he shouted out loud.

Someone was down there being attacked on all sides by a group of men. Nearing, he realized they weren't men at all. They looked like demons! The men had scalded red flesh that was clothed in nothing but layers and layers of thick iron chains. There were using them like weapons, flailing them at a man in the middle.

No, not a man, a dwarf!

"Summer‽" exclaimed Spider-man.

Summer looked up.

His eyes went wide in a mixture of relief and shock but the distraction left him open for a chain attack.

A heavy coil wrapped around his neck.

He screamed and grabbed it as he was yanked off his feet.

Another demon was on him as he was helplessly held to the ground. It moved to stomp him in the gut.

Falling from the sky Spider-man sent out a web line catching the side of the island chunk. With so much momentum he swung beneath and completely around it arching over the top and slamming his feet into the stomping demon.

It wailed as it was sent careening off the solid ground and plummeting into space.

Doing a flip Spider-man landed, legs straddled over Summer and went into a round house kick on the demon holding him down. His foot collided with the soft hot skin of its face sending it tumbling.

Summer looked up at him startled but no time for pleasantries. Two more demons were still up and kicking.

With a split second to breathe, Summer managed to summon his ethereal blades.

They danced and twisted around the two of them as they centered together.

The demons circled around them twirling their chains like heavy, heavy lassos. The demon Spider-man had kicked was back on its feet.

"So, friends of yours?" asked Spider-man.

Summer didn't reply.

Guess he wasn't well versed in bantering.

Suddenly the demons all launched their chains at them at once.

Spider-man bent and twisted himself in a magnificent display of quick agility flipping out of the chains' grasps. Summer attempted to block them with his swords but one made it through and tangled around his legs.

Spider-man summersaulted toward the nearest demon and crashed a fist into its temple.

A chain still tangled around him, Summer flourished a blade through the air and decapitated the demon holding it. As he did, two more lassoed him.

He shouted in pain as the metal tightened around his limbs and neck.

As a pair, the two demons started running dragging Summer along the ground. Spider-man did a double take then started chasing after them.

"NOO! HELP!" screamed Summer. In a few long steps the demons reached a ruby red color pool and dove in.

Summer wailed and clawed at the ground as he was quickly pulled inside after.

The remaining demons ignored Spider-man, running past him and jumping into the pool.

Spider-man stood stunned.

Suddenly he was alone on the tiny barren island, as empty and silent as ever.

Not quite sure why, he calmly walked forward and stared down at the pool. It was vivid red, almost like a pool of blood and was completely still.

He didn't dare concentrate on it. He didn't want to see what was on the other side based on what was coming out. Instead, he began to weave a single thick web line.

He held onto it as he lowered it into the pool, like a fisherman, feeling for vibrations.

He waited.

Something grabbed on.

A deep pit dropped into his stomach. He had no way of knowing what horrors might have grabbed ahold.

Regardless, Spider-man began reeling in.

A familiar hand erupted from the pool.

With relief Spider-man grabbed it and helped its owner out.

Gasping, sobbing, Summer was pulled back out onto the island.

"Are you alright?" asked Spider-man.

"You!" exclaimed Summer staring up at him in disbelief.

Steve finally floated down to join them.

He ran up and grabbed Spider-man.

"Pet, are you injured?" he asked looking him over. He spotted Summer.

"Who are you‽" he demanded.

"Uh, you don't want to know," Spider-man replied.

"What are you doing here?" asked Summer to Spider-man.

"I don't know. What are you doing here?"

Instead of answering, Summer came at Spider-man grabbing him by the clothes.

"Please, I'm sorry. I've made a horrible mistake!"

In one hard swish the tall mind flayer pushed him away.

"Steve it's ok," said Spider-man

"It's not!" snarled Summer.

"No, hey, it's ok," said Spider-man to him instead. "Whatever's going on we're here to help."

"What?" asked Steve darkly.

Summer shook his head a look of defeat and fear on his face.

"You can't."

He looked at the pool in dismay.

"You can't help me. I was a fool."

"What are you talking about?" asked Spider-man.

Summer turned and found his silver tether. He held it up showing it to them. It led directly into the red pool.

"I'm already dead."

"You're dead?" asked Spider-man. "P-people can be dead in the astral?"

"How unusual," said Steve.

"Yes," said Summer. "Your team absolutely went mad after I took you out. Especially the man with the claws."

"Yah I can see that happening," said Spider-man. He cringed at the image of Wolverine slicing the dwarf limb from limb in a blind rage. "Sorry about that I guess."

Steve on the other hand, blinked realizing what had just been said.

"You!" he growled like an engine coming at him. "You are the one who injured my pet?"

"Y-your pet?" stuttered Summer faltering back from the mind flayer,

"The cradle of my offspring and you damaged it!"

"Woah woah!" shouted Spider-man coming in between them.

"I was fighting for my life!" snapped Summer standing up for himself.

"Dude!" said Spider-man rounding on him. "We didn't have to fight at all! You started it!"

"You destroyed my infectorem! How could you not be coming for me?"

"Your what? Oh you mean the fire spire?"

"That's a horrible name!"

"Nah, it's clever and you know it," said Spider-man smug.

"Can you explain this wizard," interrupted Steve. "It is obvious that this astral projection was your doing."

Summer nodded.

"We have heard that one may escape their fate by ascending to the astral plane right at the moment of death. Slipping between the realms if you will, but my tether," he said grabbing it. "Keeps pulling me, trying to reunite me with what is left of my essence. It's attempting to pull me into a lower plane."

"A lower plane?" asked Spider-man. "That sounds about right. Dude. You murdered all your slaves! Also you had slaves! And used them to build a super weapon. What did you think was going to happen?"

"Well that's why I attempted to escape to the astral. I thought I could outsmart death, and it seems you joined me."

"Is that how that works?" asked Spider-man to Steve.

"Others may be projected by an astral spell if they are willing."

"Oh, guess being on the verge of death meant I was willing."

"Perhaps you also wished to escape your situation," said Summer. Then he sighed, his face growing worried again. "And what's worse. I believe as long as my tether is attached to the lower planes, creatures from that realm will attempt to pull me in as well. I've been assaulted by hell hounds, fetch, chain devils…"

"I didn't want you to die! I tried to save you!" interrupted Spider-man. "You were the idiot that stabbed me in the back. Look I even saved you from the lower plane! I didn't have to fight with you or offer you a rope."

"Yes… a silken thread. I thought I was finally lost, but there it was, a literal life line. I cannot express my feeling at seeing it. It doesn't matter though," he said terror washing over him. "I'll be pulled back in. It's inevitable. As long as I'm tethered to the lower realms that is where I will eventually reside. I didn't expect to die so soon so I never got around to learning a spell to sever my tether. I am already damned."

Steve gave the war mage a look.

"I know the spell to sever tethers."

Summer gasped.

"You do?"

"Yes."

Summer gaped and held up the thread.

"Will you?"

"No."

"Steve?" asked Spider-man.

"Why would I? Obviously this dwarf has committed terrible offenses and must now be punished. The great wheel of cosmetology does not make mistakes. If you are being dragged to the nine hells it is clearly because it is what you deserve."

"Like you are one to speak of morality Ilithid!" barked Summer. "Your race would enslave all planes if you had the chance."

"Yes."

"Uh!" Spider-man shouted annoyed.

"Oh, I see," said Steve to Spider-man with a sickly condescending tone. "You wish for me to show mercy."

"Well, yah," answered Spider-man. "I'm not going to condemn anyone, not even this guy, to freaking hell!"

"Ah, but you see. You do not have the power to save him. I do. It is not your choice, but mine, and I am choosing justice."

"But,"

"To give mercy you must dispose of justice. Think on it. If I were to spare this dwarf from his fate I would be denying justice for all his victims. Don't they deserve justice?"

"I…"

Spider-man looked to Summer. He was terrified.

"In addition, if I were to perform such a spell my mana would be completely depleted and I would be pulled away back to my body immediately leaving you alone in the astral. You wish to be abandoned for the sake of a mass murderer?"

"But I…"

"I am certain there are less evil beings damned to the nine hells. Is it justice for them that this soul be spared when they were not?"

Steve gave him a cold look as Spider-man was utterly lost for words.

"So, convince me my pet," he chided. "Convince me now why I should abandon justice and go against the cosmic order for this dwarf that clearly does not deserve it."

"Deserve it," repeated Spider-man quietly.

"Hm?"

"Because if he deserved it, it wouldn't be mercy," he said thinking out loud.

"Yes, mercy is injustice. We've established this."

"Yah but…" Spider-man looked to Steve, then he looked to Summer. There was that feeling of being watched again. He sighed. "Look," he said to Summer. "Steve's right. I don't have the power to help you. Not now. I gave you a chance in the physical world and you didn't take it. That's all I could do. You've screwed yourself. You're dead, the people you wronged are dead."

Tears began streaking down the dwarf's face.

"Please," he said softly. "Don't let them take me."

"I can't do anything for you. You're a horrible person but, you know what, I've forgiven people who've done much worse to me. I forgive you. Maybe that'll count for something down there. I'm sorry."

Summer started sobbing. He collapsed to the ground burying his face in the rocky dirt.

Spider-man looked away as the dwarf sobbed, his face twisting as he tried to ignore it.

Steve looked at him.

"Pet," he asked calmly. "Is this something you truly desire?"

"Huh?"

"You wish for me to severe the tether? Truly?"

Spider-man sighed and nodded.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"No real reason. I just can't stand suffering. There's too much of it! I don't care who it's happening to. How can I sleep at night knowing I didn't do everything to help?"

Steve considered this.

"If I do, you will be abandoned here. That is a risk I do not wish to take."

"I'm sure I can get home," said Spider-man. "You trust me right?"

Steve thought long and hard.

"No. But I will do this."

Summer gasped looking up at them.

"I do not care about the suffering of others. I only care about the suffering of you," he said turning to Spider-man.

"But you want to kill me."

"We all must die one day. I do not wish you to suffer until then."

"Thanks?"

"I will do this. It is not justice, and I am not giving mercy. I am working in my own interest to care for my pet. Why you care, I haven't the faintest."

Summer ran an eye to dry his face.

"W-we called ourselves the ascended," he said. "The ascension of the seasons. We didn't believe in the concept of good or evil. Idiots we'd say saw the world in black and white, morons saw it in shades of grey, but the ascended, we saw that colors are an illusion, a pointless illusion at that. Every people and every belief arbitrarily choosing what is good and what is evil. Pointless constraints on higher thought, but we were wrong. I see that now. Forgiveness, helping those who don't deserve it. That is unmistakably good."

Steve rolled his eyes.

"I am sorry I never realized this in life. I'm sorry for the suffering I brought to the world."

Spider-man nodded.

"Like I said, you can't make it right. Not with the people you killed but, you and me, we're square."

"Thank you," he said in earnest.

And with that Steve stepped forward. He stood to his full height, closing his eyes and his hands in front of him, fingers forming a pyramid. Then he snapped his wirsts down and the silver thread was severed. It fluttered and fell to the ground.

Summer turned to look at it, then he turned back to Spider-man and smiled. He closed his eyes as his body started to turn to stone.

Spider-man gasped.

Summer curled into a gentle fetal position as he began to float. His face was peaceful as he went still, completely enveloped in rock.

Spider-man looked on stunned as the tiny dwarven body drifted away, the smallest island in the astral.

"Never even knew his name," said Spider-man. He turned to Steve.

He was gone.

"Oh yah."

Spider-man, on his small chunk of island, stared up into the silky grey sky, truly and utterly alone.

He flickered.

The team had managed to rig up a sort of gurney by wrapping Nih's cloak around a pair of long, strong branches Boksee had found for them. It took them a few tries to get it sturdy enough to support a full-grown man but eventually Spider-man was being carried between Wolverine and Wyn. Hopefully this would be a less stressful way to travel on his body.

"I wish he'd wake up," said Boksee. "Just for a minute or two."

"I know," said Wyn.

"Perhaps it is a blessing he is absent for his injuries," said Nih.

The team considered this, then with a smile Wyn spoke up again.

"I never thought I'd miss his corny jokes so much," she said playfully. "His dopy smile, the way his eyes will start to drift apart when he has absolutely no idea what's going on."

Logan snorted.

"I've never seen them do that," said Boksee.

"It's subtle," said Wyn.

A slight rumble reverberated beneath their feet.

The party stopped. They looked to each other silently asking if the others had felt it.

It rumbled again. This time everyone was certain.

"Um, what was that?" asked Boksee.

A mangled fallen tree suddenly bolted upright.

The team stared at it. A tree, a full broken tree had somehow wrenched itself back to standing in an unnatural jerk.

"Ummm… Nih?" asked Boksee.

The group jumped as another tree leapt up standing, this one closer. Then another. The forest around them started to raise like it was being pulled by a great magnet. Then the trees started moving. Full grown trees, some twenty, fifty feet tall were pulled, dragging across the ground by some unnatural force leaving great trenches in their wake.

"Look out!" shouted Wyn. The team scrambled out of the way as a tree came rushing past them.

They came from miles! More and more and not just trees. Burnt plants of all sorts and even charred corpses started to pull together, joining in a large heap.

The team watched as the trees began stacking and arranging themselves. Some wove together to form a pair of columns, like legs, that supported more trees rising into the sky. A trunk, then arms followed, all made of the dead forest clambering up together into shape.

Nih gasped in realization and stumbled back in horror.

"RUN!" he shouted. "EVERYONE RUN!"

But they didn't. They were each trapped by their own shock, staring up as a gigantic humanoid creature, as tall as a skyscraper came into form before them.

With empty glowing eyes, it stared down. Opening its jagged, woody mouth the sound of a tornado roared through the air.

The team was finally freed from their trance and bolted.

"What is that‽" shrieked Boksee as they scrambled through the empty ashen fields.

"A thornfoul!" shouted Nih.

"A wha- AH!" screamed Wyn as she fell into one of the tree trenches.

She and Spider-man hit the ground. Logan grabbed up Spider-man as Nih and Boksee yanked Wyn back to her feet. Running for their lives, they saw a large rock coming into view and ducked behind it.

"A creature of vengeance," whispered Nih panting. "Sometimes when great harm is done to the land the spirits may become enraged and seek revenge. But they're supposed to be a fraction of this size! It's enormous!"

They could feel the earth shaking with every step the colossus took moving closer to them.

"And you didn't think to warn us about this earlier?" hissed Wolverine.

"Summer is dead," whispered Nih back. "Who is there left to seek vengeance on?"

The ground shook. It was nearly on top of them.

"You can control plants right?" asked Wyn to him. "Can't you cast some sort of druid magic on it?"

Nih quickly shook his head.

"It's powered by the spirits of the forest. I derive my power from the same place. It outranks me!"

"Maybe it's not interested in us," said Boksee. "If we just keep hidden maybe…"

Another roar and the rock they were hiding behind was shattered into pieces, broken wood exploding around them.

They all screamed shielding their heads and eyes.

"Ok," said Spider-man looking up at his tether. It was leading him back up into the sky. "I just have to think to do it and I will," he panted clutching his stomach.

He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate.

"Gah!"

It hurt so much.

He flickered in and out.

He tried and tried but he couldn't force himself to believe he could fly. He jumped and fell back to the ground, landing in pain. He clutched his stomach and flickered. He was running out of time. He needed to get back to his body but how could he possibly make it? He seemed further away than ever.

They were left exposed, the thornfoul staring down at them.

It roared again. This time Logan could hear that the sound was not one creature, but sounded like hundreds of voices screaming at once. He almost dropped Spider-man with the urge to cover his ears.

Nih leapt in front of the group, his hands outspread.

"Oh mighty thornfoul!" he called up to it with a trembling voice. "The dwarf who ruined your forest is dead! What vengeance do you seek?"

"Look out!"

Wyn grabbed Nih and pulled him out of the way as the thornfoul threw down a hand to crush him. Trees and branches collided with the ground sending broken wood in all directions with a deafening crunch.

"We have to run!" shouted Boksee.

The team all took off again.

They couldn't face it. Their only chance was to lose the thing.

Spider-man gargled over Logan's shoulder.

With another hideous roar, the thornfoul lumbered forward and slammed its hand into them sending the team flying sideways.

They all screamed tumbling and scattering into the ground and ash. Thankfully no one was impaled or gouged but they all had bleeding scrapes. Wolverine scrambled back to Spider-man's unconscious body.

He was twisted and bent. Logan moved him back into the right position. Nothing was broken. He was breathing, gasping. New scratches were across his face and body. His mouth was spurting fresh blood.

Logan felt the ground shaking.

He looked up to see the thornfoul was passing by every other member of the party and b-lining right for them.

He looked down to Spider-man, gasping, gushing, convulsing. He could barely understand how he was still alive at this point.

Then his heart sank as he had a realization.

"I'm sorry kid," he said calmly. With his filthy thick hands he turned the younger man's head to keep the blood out of his lungs letting it run freely into the ash. "I couldn't protect ya... I'm sorry I made you hang on this long."

Spider-man fell to the rocky skin of his island burying his face in agonizing pain and frustration.

"If you gotta go," said Logan. "Go. I get it."

Pain still surging through him, Spider-man fell to his side and curled into a tight ball.

"Maybe, maybe it's better this way," he tried to comfort himself.

He had thought he had been dead once. He hadn't been upset about it. Not nearly as much as he should have been…

He flickered harder.

What was waiting for him on the other side anyway? Pain. He was dying of an arrow wound. Confusion. He was lost in another world with no idea how he got there. Grief. Fear. Struggle… And on the other side…the real other side…no pain, no fear, his family was waiting for him.

"Don't hang on just for me," said Logan as the thornfoul stepped toward him. The rest of his team moaned and struggled to recover from the hit.

Was there even a chance of making it? Was it already too late? Was he already a dead man walking, like Summer? No chance, no point to fighting.

The thornfoul stared them down.

"I won't quit on ya," said Logan firmly staring up at the colossus. "But if it's better… you can leave… I'll be fine. You can go home."

Spider-man looked at his flickering hand. His eyes went wide as realization dawned on him. With a scowl of determination and a deep breath he clenched his fist.

"NO!" he shouted forcing himself up.

"No! I want to live!"

He shouted it into the void.

"I fight every day for other people but I'm not willing to fight for myself‽ Am I kidding‽ If there's a chance, the smallest chance, I have to try! Don't give up guys!" he called out. "Because I'm not!"

With new found determination he staggered over to the edge of the island.

"I have to try," he repeated looking at the impossible task before him.

Suddenly Spider-man was again overcome with that odd feeling that someone was watching him, the strongest he had felt it. Spider-man turned around and this time was shocked.

For a split second he thought it was another hell hound. Another horse sized dog was standing behind him staring at him, but this one was more like a boxer than a wolf. Its fur was short and shimmered in a velvety gold.

Taking a second to work up his nerve, Spider-man spoke.

"Uh, hi," he said with a little wave. "Have you been following me?"

The dog didn't move.

Spider-man was apprehensive, but if it was going to attack it would have by now right?

"C-can you help me?"

The dog turned to present its side. It looked to him expectant.

Spider-man amazed, nodded. He walked up and hopped onto the dog's back.

"Can you get me home?"

The dog let out a powerful bark then took off running through the astral.

Blood and spit frothing at his lips Logan made another run at the thornfoul.

He dashed up, claws outspread as it lunged at Spider-man. He sliced at its enormous branchy hand with everything he had chopping through feet and feet of tangled wood.

The thorfoul recoiled and slapped him away. Logan went flying.

He pulled himself from the ash and snarled. What was this thing's deal with Spider-man?

Spider-man clung to the dog, hands wrapped in fur, face buried in the scruff of its neck as it galloped through the void of the astral. Running on the air, it followed Spider-man's tether, a dog on a mission.

The void spun past them. Eventually a new island came into view, a very large one. It had one arm extended out toward him almost like it was trying to give him something. In the center of its palm, was a silver color pool. Spider-man's tether led inside.

The thornfoul was right on top of the unconscious man.

Bolting forward, Logan managed to reach Spider-man and stood over top him, keeping him between his legs.

"You wanna get to him‽" he shouted up the thornfoul. "You gotta go through me first bitch!"

With one final bounding leap the dog, with Spider-man riding its back, dove into the silver color pool.

For a moment he was mist, then there was pain. It was excruciating! It was worse than being stabbed with a knife. Worse than anything he had been experiencing. Worse by miles! He couldn't move. It hurt to take in the shallowest breath. His head pounded.

But he was thankful for that pain. Because he knew...it meant he was back. Truly back. He was alive.

He cracked open his eyes.

In his blurry, dark vision he could see Wolverine standing over him, bloody, panting, hair a mess, claws ejected, teeth bared.

Spider-man struggled to speak. His lungs could barely take in enough air to breathe let alone talk but after several attempts he finally managed to gasp out a word.

"Wolvie," he rasped.

Wolverine whipped toward him.

"Kid!"

The thornfoul moved to crush them.

Suddenly a massive golden dog leapt forward and launched itself into the colossus. The beast collided in an explosion of golden light. The thornfoul started to tremble.

"What is THAT‽" cried Boksee as the team started to recover, trying to get their feet back under them.

The dog landed over Wolverine and Spider-man, keeping them between its legs as it snarled.

Wyn's eyes went wide.

"By the divine, it, it's a foo dog!"

It lunged at the thornfoul, running around its legs and biting at its ankles. Every bite it made a golden light shown through the wood causing it to tremble.

"It's on our side!" exclaimed Boksee.

The thornfoul started shrieking, it's voice still made of hundreds, as it desperately tried to swat the dog away. No such luck. The glowing damage was accumulating. Stepping forward one of the thornfoul's legs was torn from its body. The team scrambled out of the way, as with the sound of an entire forest falling at once the thornfoul was felled.

The dog approached its face.

Logan looked to the fallen creature. Its glowing eyes and mouth hung ajar. Voices were leaking out of it. Cries and anger and pain and sadness. Hundreds of them all weeping together.

Wolverine's face lit up in realization.

"I get it," he said.

Cautiously, he walked up beside the dog, joining it to look into the thing's face.

He turned to his team who were watching him.

"These are the slaves," he said. "What's left of 'em anyway.

He turned back to the thornfoul.

"You all are just mad at Spidey 'cause he tried to spare him ain't ya? He did you wrong by helping the guy who hurt you so much."

The thornfoul's glowing empty eyes focused on him as he walked up to it.

"I get it," he continued. "He had good intentions you know. He's just a bit of an idiot. I'm sorry we didn't get to you in time."

Logan put a hand to the thing's face.

"What can we do to help ya?"

The foo dog approached. Wolverine stepped out of the way as it put both paws to the thing's massive wooden cheek.

The dog began to glow a vivid gold. Its eyes wide, the thornfoul began glowing the same. With a hiss like a kettle, suddenly, the entire massive creature erupted in a blast of golden light sending debris flying in every direction. The ashen dunes were blown in a flurry and nearly knocked the adventurers off their feet.

They shielded their eyes, then lowered their arms and looked to each other, ears ringing just staring in stunned silence.

"Well..." said Wyn, the first to find her voice. "That was certainly a finisher."

"Wait, what's that?" asked Boksee.

It was raining thin pieces of barky wood. Hundreds of them.

One landed on Logan's boot. He picked it up.

There was something written onto it, burned into it.

"Lottie."

He looked down at it in confusion.

Boksee picked up another.

"Arnas," she read out loud. "What does that mean?"

Nih caught one out of the air.

"Jun."

"They're names," said Wyn in realization. "By the divine. They've written their names."

"Guess they're not mounds anymore," said Boksee watching the names fall in the wind.

Wyn approached the foo dog.

"Thank you," she said bowing to it.

The dog walked past her and made its way to Spider-man to stand over him.

"Amazing," said Wyn. "Spider-man must have earned its favor."

The group approached. The dog growled at them.

Wyn was shocked as the team took a step back.

"It's alright," said Logan to the dog calmly. "We're friends."

The dog stared him down then stepped aside.

Logan leaned over Spider-man and looked to the group.

"He was talkin'," he said. "He's gonna be ok now."

"What are you talking about?"

"I got a gut feel'n. He's gonna be ok."

Logan pulled something out of his pocket. It was a woven necklace with the arrow head that had pierced Spider-man as a pendent. He placed it around his neck.

"But we can't let up," he said scooping him off the ground.

"We have to keep going. We have to keep pushing to Little Monds."

With that the dog looked at Logan and presented its back.

Understanding Logan draped the unconscious man across it. He tried to get on but the dog snarled.

"Fine!" snapped Logan. "Don't let him fall then. Get him back to Little Monds. You can do that right fido?"

The dog barked, and with that took off galloping across the windy ashen dunes.

The remaining adventurers spent the next hour or so collecting names.

"Make sure we get them all," said Wyn. "We can't let one go forgotten."

Boksee passed by Logan.

"So, what was the deal with the arrow head?" she asked.

"Memento," he answered shrugging. "One of the two of us was going to end up wearing it. I was really hoping it was going to be him."

Many miles away, the dwarven tour guide slumped against the side of the great black gate of Little Monds.

She huffed in frustration yanking a braided pigtail.

"Why are my tourists always late?" she whined to herself. "The only time a group was on time was the one that didn't even order the tour."

Still fuming, something caught her eye. On the horizon, something was shining a glimmering gold.

She squinted her eyes to try to see. Then her heart stopped.

Racing with the sun toward her, was a foo dog.

"By the gods."

The End.